Parking outside your home could cost more if you have a long car

Tuesday 1 January 2008 00:52 BST

Motorists face a fresh financial onslaught with rules linking the cost of parking outside their homes to the length of their cars.

Owners of many ordinary family cars - including the Ford Focus, Renault Scenic and Vauxhall Vectra - will see the price of annual permits almost double as part of a move to encourage drivers to switch to small hatchbacks.

Campaigners condemned the move as another 'stealth tax' for hard-hit family motorists already struggling to pay high fuel prices, congestion charges and road duties.

Scroll down for more...

Owners of many ordinary family cars could see the price of annual permits almost double

Norwich Council will be the first authority to link parking permit prices to vehicle length in a move which will raise millions of pounds in extra revenue.

The Local Government Association said many other town halls were watching the experiment 'with great interest' with a view to copying the scheme.

A number of town halls are already penalising drivers of 'gas-guzzling' larger cars by linking parking costs to vehicle emissions. But the Norwich scheme marks a change by charging according to the car's dimensions, with vehicles divided into three bands.

Any car longer than 14ft 7in will be in the highest category, with the cost of an annual on-street parking permit rising from the current flat-fee of £16 to £30 - a 90 per cent hike.

For the middle band of cars over 12ft 10in, fees will rise steeply to £22, while all smaller cars will enjoy a price freeze.

Campaigners are angry that the bands place many modest- sized family cars in the same category as the biggest gas-guzzling 4x4s, while ignoring the level of harmful pollution each vehicle produces.

For example some models of the popular Ford Focus are classed as 'large', as are the Ford Mondeo, the Renault Espace and Renault Megane, and the Vauxhall Vectra.

Virtually all estate cars will be hit - regardless of emissions - yet older small hatchbacks with inefficient and dirty engines will still benefit from lower charges.

The VW Golf Estate will cost more to park than the Golf hatchback because it is 13 inches longer - even though its engine emissions are 20 per cent lower.

Some models of the Ford Fiesta - which most would consider a small car - just cross the line into the middle-sized category by a fraction of an inch.

Labour-run Norwich City Council has rubber- stamped the move despite fierce opposition.

The RAC Foundation motoring group said: "This discriminates against families with children, who are more likely to drive longer vehicles like estate cars."

The National Taxpayers' Alliance said: "Saving the planet shouldn't be used as an excuse for new stealth taxes. Ordinary motorists deserve a break."

And traffic enforcement firm NCP said: "What if you drive a Toyota Prius, which is quite a big car, but has very low emissions, or a large electric vehicle? Would you have to pay more too?"

If similar policies are adopted by cities with higher parking charges - such as London boroughs, where it typically costs £100 a year to park outside one's own home - motorists could face huge fee increases.

Norwich council defended the rules. Councillor Brian Morrey admitted the move would lead to a rise in revenue but insisted that was 'not the point' of the plan and the money would be ring-fenced for transport improvements.

He said: "It is a deliberate attempt to push people towards owning smaller cars, which generally have lower emissions but also don't cause such problems with parking.

"Wherever we drew the line some cars were going to fall just the wrong side of it, but after lengthy discussions we decided these sizes were a good compromise."

A spokesman said permits would be issued based on car models using a detailed database of dimensions.